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spyware

SmitFraud & SpySheriff Beware we have a fix!!

There is a nasty group of spyware programs out there that not only hijack your browser home page, but they replace your desktop with a warning that your computer is infected and add icons to your system tray. What's worse is that all of these items are so linked that you can't get rid of any of them unless you get rid of all of them.

Today I found a great tool that made removing these spyware programs simple. However, this tool does not replace any of the other tools we talk about on a regular basis.

The program is easy to use – just follow the prompts. I didn't even have to start the system in safe mode for it to work.

How much computer can $40,000 get you?

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with a local business (that I will not name) to help them change their computer setup. The business is of the type that they need to worry about security, privacy and large-scale record keeping.

When I help out with this sort of job, I have no problem admitting where my limits of expertise are and I help the client find another business that has the book learning to do the job they need. I am grateful for the real geeks who can do this type of job because I prefer to work with the people rather than the machines.

The business client has kept me on board for the job though because I will be there to setup the individual computers and help the employees through the process.

Captcha?

Captcha1Technology has spawned many strange new words from blog to podcast to spyware. Captcha is a new term that you will be seeing more of in the coming months. In fact, chances are good that you have already dealt with captchas. A captcha is a scrambled mess of characters (like the ones pictured in this article) that we have to reproduce in a box before submitting a web form.

The purpose of captchas is to thwart bad guys from releasing programs (web bots) that can automatically fill out forms all over the web. They do this to leave spam on sites that allow comments or to send bogus orders to e-commerce sites. Captchas work well at stopping these hacker bots because they can't 'read' and verify these characters.

Things we say for our health

Today I visited a client who listens to the show regularly, or so she said.

I was there because the computer was running very slow and locked up often. On her computer were three programs (or groups of programs).

1. AOL

2. AOL Security Center (AOL's antivirus, antispyware and popup blocker)

3. Norton System Works

"I know you guys say not to use these programs but my son said I need them, he works for a big computer company in California."

As I explained that her problems were caused by AOL, AOL Security Center and Norton she said, "I knew you were going to tell me that I shouldn't be using those programs but…"

55 Minute Uninstall

Wow, it would have almost been faster to backup the data, reformat the hard drive, and reinstall everything from scratch. The long install was of the grossly over programmed Norton Internet Security Suite. Here's the breakdown of my appointment:

8:26am Arrive at customer's house. He tells me that his computer is running extremely slow.
8:32am I sit down and hit the power button on the computer.
8:36am
Still staring at the Windows XP startup logo, I ask the customer to bring in the laptop since he wants me to look at it also.
8:40am
The laptop is booted up and I'm already looking it over.
8:41am
Desktop is finally up…9 minutes!! Yikes!
8:46am
Add/Remove programs is finally up and the list populated. I find Norton Internet Security and click the Remove button.
9:41am
 55 minutes later, I can finally work on the computer. The actual uninstall procedure took about 50 minutes and then another five for it to reboot after removal of Norton.
10:07am
 		I installed and updated both AVG Anti-virus and anti-spyware, tested the Internet connect, tested MS Word (which wasn't working at all an hour earlier) and started the AVG scans all in this past half hour.

The moral of the story is that Norton products slow down even the fastest computers significantly more than any other security product. The installs are long, the updates are long, the uninstalls are long, and the protection is mediocre. Please, save yourself money, time and grief and don't buy or install Norton products on yours or other people's computers.

Good security can only do so much

One of my customers today had a problem with general computer slowness, pop-ups and couldn't hook up to their cable connection. This particular client is well known to me because I help clean up the computer on a fairly regular basis. My advice is always the same:  don't use free download services (Bear Share was loaded), online poker sites are known spyware beds (two different online poker programs were loaded), please use the proven anti-virus and anti-spyware software that I install and configure (my software was deleted in favor of the super secure AOL Security Suite).

After removing the AOL security suite and re-enabling the high speed connection, I installed AVG Anti-virus and Anti-spyware. Just doing a quick scan with the Anti-spyware program yielded more than 80 spyware problems which AVG then dispatched of quickly. Is this a slam of AOL? No, just a factual account of yet another example of what I find on computers that use sup-par security systems.  To be fair to the AOL system, the computer user engaged in practices that would tax any computer system, but the problems would not have been nearly magnified with the security setup that we recommend.

AVG Releases New Updated Programs

Many of my shotguns this week have been more news than tips, but they are extremely important news items. Today, I want to inform you that our favorite anti-virus software and anti-spyware software has released new versions. AVG released version 7.5 of their anti-virus software and also rolled out their free (for home users) edition of their new anti-spyware program that resulted from their acquisition of Ewido earlier this year.

The announcement is important for two reasons. 1) Grisoft (makers of AVG) will no longer support the current 7.0 version of AVG starting in February 2007, and 2) Even with the upgrades in protection and updating, AVG remains one of the only anti-virus programs available for older operating systems including Windows 98. We interviewed the president of Grisoft last year on the show, and he reiterated his company's commitment to providing top of the line computer protection at affordable prices for businesses and free for home users without compromising computer performance. And his company has certainly held true to those goals. We continue to be very impressed with these products and recommend them hands down over any product available today. 

Solution for computer that can’t change desktop wallpaper / background

This solution WILL fix your problem, but don’t run away afterwards and forget about us.

HelpMeRick.com contains hundreds of tips (and video tips) that YOU can use as a reference for yourself and
especially as a reference to send links to your friends/family so you don’t have to write out or explain the steps yourself!

Send this article to EVERYONE you know…

REALLY! The health of your computer, your friend's computer, your neighbor's computer, the government computers, my computer are all at stake. Heck, economies world wide depend on the information I am about to repeat to you and you HAVE to forward it every computer user you know! REALLY!

I cleaned up a laptop today that belonged to a sophomore in college. She readily admitted that she knew very little about her computer and knew nothing about Internet security. After cleaning off some horrific spyware and a couple of viruses, I explained to her how to maintain the standard products I add to all my customer's computer:

  • AVG Antivirus
  • Windows Defender, Ewido, SpyBot Search & Destroy, and AdAware (anti-spyware programs)
  • Mozilla Firefox (an alternative browser to help prevent the problems)

We have talked and written volumes on this subject, so I'm listing for you links to the articles and tips we have written so you can brush up and educate and inform all the computer users you know.